Escher Quartet

Tuesday, April 23, 2019, 7:30 p.m.

“Hearts were touched; we sighed with bliss. Balance and clarity worked wonders…” – The Times (London)

“The ensemble’s playing was notable for its ideal blend of savage intensity and wistful introspection…” – New York Times

Founded in 2005 and championed by the Emerson Quartet, within months of its inception the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival. The quartet has since collaborated with artists including David Finckel, Leon Fleischer, Wu Han, Lynn Harrell, Cho Liang Lin, Joshua Bell, Paul Watkins and David Shifrin, as well as jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman, vocalist Kurt Elling, legendary Latin artist Paquito D’Rivera and Grammy award-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux. In 2013, the quartet became one of the very few chamber ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

In its home town of New York City, the ensemble serves as Season Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The Escher has performed in virtually all the great chamber music halls, including in the U.S., Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Washington’s Kennedy Center, and in Europe at London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, the Auditorium de Louver in Paris, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.

The Escher Quartet takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by his method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.